Cold Sweat
by Disasteriffic Kaz
Summary: When you're a Winchester, sometimes the hunt finds you when all you wanted was a solid eight asleep in a crappy motel room. Post 6x15 "The French Mistake" One Shot hurt/comfort!Sam/Dean/Bobby


**Title:** Cold Sweat

**Author:** Disasteriffic Kaz

**Info: **When you're a Winchester, sometimes the hunt finds you when all you wanted was a solid eight asleep in a crappy motel room. Post 6x15 "The French Mistake" One Shot hurt/comfort!Sam/Dean/Bobby

**Author's Note:** This actually began life as part of the first chapter of a new multi-chapter story I'm starting but as I was writing it, I began to realize it had no business being in there. LOL It was completely out of place and ruined the flow of the story so, with a little tweaking, you get an impromptu one shot and my new story is down from 9 pages to 2. *head/desk* Back to the grindstone.

_**This story is un-Beta'd**.__All mistakes are my own.  
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Bobby checked his rearview mirror and rolled his eyes as he watched the Impala drift slightly behind him and then jerk back straight. "Idjit." He grumbled affectionately and decided there was no need to finish the drive back home in one night, no matter what the stubborn brothers Winchester seemed to think. He checked the signs passing on the interstate. They were just on the outskirts of Cleveland and obviously, it was time for a break with Sam fighting sleep behind the wheel back there. He didn't bother calling and asking because he knew the kid would argue so he simply turned off and followed the signs to the nearest motel. Bobby pulled in to the first he found and was out of the truck before Sam had even pulled in behind him. He waited for the younger Winchester to pull up and roll down the window and Bobby leaned down for a look in. Sure enough, Dean was sprawled over the passenger side, head back and snoring softly.

"We're done for the night. I'll get us rooms." Bobby told him and waited while Sam blinked slowly at him, obviously three steps away from sleep himself. "Go park."

"Uh…yeah, ok." Sam nodded wearily and backed up, looking for and finding a space near the end of the building. He turned off the engine and dropped his head back to the seat. The last dozen or so miles he'd been fighting his eyes which were intent on closing. He listened to Dean's even breaths beside him and startled badly when the door next to him opened noisily. "Shit."

Bobby shook his head. "Come on, Sam. Room twelve." He handed the kid a key and left him to get out on his own. "Don't leave your brother in the car."

Sam nodded, taking a breath to settle his jangling nerves and shook his brother's arm. "Dude. Wake up."

"Huh?" Dean blinked and looked up in surprise. "We there?"

Sam snorted. "Bobby called it quits for the night. " He tossed the room key in Dean's lap.

Dean shrugged, took the key and climbed out to stretch with a long groan and the sound of joints popping. "Hey, Bobby. What gives? I could'a kept drivin'."

"Your car was gonna end up wrapped around a mile marker." Bobby told him plainly as he came out of his own room and nodded to the Impala's front seat.

Dean bent to look back in and in the short time since he'd gotten out, Sam had fallen asleep with his head lolling over the back of the seat. "Geez." He snorted a laugh and pushed his door shut. "Ok. Fine. I got him." He left Sam in the car while he carted the bags into their room and then finally went back out, smirking as he found Sam with one leg out on the ground. "Wake up, princess." Dean slapped his shoulder and grinned when Sam gasped and stared at him. "Or do you wanna sleep out here all night?"

"No. Crap." Sam smirked, embarrassed and climbed out. He started toward the back of the car for his bag and frowned when Dean grabbed his arm and pushed him to the room instead.

"Already inside, genius. Bed. You're done." Dean rolled his eyes as Sam stumbled into the room ahead of him. "You know I would have kicked your ass if you'd fallen asleep behind the wheel of my baby?"

"I wasn't…" Sam trailed off at the knowing glare on his brother's face and he snorted a laugh as he dropped onto the far bed. "Ok, but I didn't." He had just enough energy to pull his jacket off and flopped back with a happy moan at finally being horizontal.

Dean chuckled and pushed the room door shut, then went over and tugged Sam's sneakers off his feet along with his socks. "Friggin useless when you're half-asleep, sasquatch." He quickly salted the door and window and rolled into his own bed, knowing Bobby would be knocking on the door at the ass-crack of dawn to get back on the road. He sighed and shoved his face into his pillow.

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Sam rolled to his back and blinked up at the stained motel ceiling sleepily. He yawned until his jaw cracked and looked over, seeing the lump of Dean under the blanket in the next bed. A glance at the clock on the table between the beds showed him it was not quite seven in the morning and he rolled on to his stomach, shoving his face into the pillow and trying to find sleep again. He frowned into the scratchy fabric and wondered what had woken him in the first place. Sam raised his head and looked around the room but there was nothing out of place. He looked over at Dean again but he was snoring softly just like he always did so that wasn't it.

Sam sat up and tossed a leg off the side of the bed, now determined to figure out what had woken him. "What the…" He jumped when his foot hit the floor and splashed. Sam looked over the side of the bed and stared in shock at several inches of cold water that covered it. "Dean!" He called and put both feet into the water, shuddering at the chill. "Wake up!" Sam took his brother's shoulder and gave him a shake.

"Wha?" Dean rolled over and glared up at him. "Dude, s'too early."

"We're flooding!" Sam said and splashed over to the door.

"Say what?" Dean shot up as he heard the sound of Sam walking through water and looked over the edge of the bed. "I'm still sleeping right? This is some sorta freaky dream. How are we flooding?"

Sam shook his head. "I dunno." He unlocked the door and pulled it open, looked out and stared in surprise. There wasn't a drop of water outside and the three inches of water _in_ the room didn't rush out; it stayed as if held back by an invisible barrier. "Ok, this is hinkey."

"That's not right." Dean put a foot down and shivered at the cold. "Shit, that is some frigid water."

"I'm gonna check on Bobby." Sam took two steps to walk outside and grunted as he hit a solid force in the door and bounced backward to sprawl into the water with a splash. "Crap!"

"What the hell's goin' on?" Dean yelled. He took his brother's arm and pulled him to his feet. "You alright?"

Sam nodded and wrapped his arms around himself. "S'f-freezing." His teeth chattered and his body shook with the shocking cold as his hair dripped down into his face.

Dean went to the door and held out a hand, frowning when he felt the invisible wall barring their way. "This is startin' to piss me off." He turned and splashed over to the wall next to Sam's bed and banged on it. "Bobby's room." He told Sam when he saw his brother looking at him and pounded harder. "Bobby! Wake the hell up!"

"You could j-just call him." Sam said and rolled his eyes with a shivering laugh.

"Yeah, but this is more fun." Dean grinned and pounded on the wall again after which they both heard Bobby bellow angrily. "Get over here! Code red!" Dean shouted and banged one more time for emphasis.

"He's gonna k-kick your ass, dude." Sam laughed and went to the window. He slid it open and found the same barrier. "This is some kind of screwy lockdown."

Dean pulled the blanket from Sam's bed and wrapped it around his brother's back. "You're makin' me cold looking at you, Sam." He went to his bag and dug out his homemade EMF meter, flicking it on and went around the room with it whining soflty.

"What are the odds we get a motel with a haunted room?" Sam asked ruefully and tugged the blanket around him more securely.

Dean shook his head and went to the door, frowning as the meter registered more loudly near the barrier. "Winchester luck, man."

"Ok you s-salted the window." Sam nodded to the line he could see. "Door too?" He asked and Dean nodded. "So whatever's doing this was already in the room with us."

Dean looked down, pressing his forehead into the barrier and his brows rose. "Son of a bitch. The salt line's intact. The water's just inside it."

Sam climbed out of the water onto his brother's bed. It wasn't doing him any favors trying not to freeze. He looked out the window as Bobby strode past, giving Sam a glare before reaching the door and then staring wide-eyed at the water held back in the door. "Morning, Bobby."

"What in ten hells did you do?" Bobby looked at Dean and demanded.

"Why's it gotta be me?" Dean rolled his eyes. "It's not my fault we woke up in a damn arctic pool. Sam's the one who took a swim. Whoa!" Dean yelled as his feet were pulled out from under him and he went down with a splash and came up sputtering. "Son of a bitch!"

Bobby watched Dean scramble up onto his bed, now sopping. "What? What happened?"

"Something grabbed my damn f-feet. Shit that's c-cold!" Dean wrapped his arms around himself and glared over at his snickering brother. "Keep laughin' and I'm dumping you b-back in, princess."

"B-bite me." Sam smirked and wrapped the blanket more tightly around his shoulders. "Suggestions, Bobby?"

"Search the room." Bobby shrugged. "Gotta be somethin' in there."

"I'll do it." Sam waved at his big brother who was wrapping himself in his own blanket. He dropped his feet back into the water and shuddered. "Yikes. Gimme the EMF."

Dean un-huddled from his blanket enough to pass it out and pulled the fabric back tighter. "S'too early in the mornin' for this shit. I d-don't even have coffee, dammit!"

Sam snorted and pulled his own blanket around him as the chills travelled up his body from his feet, calf deep in the frigid water. He went around the room, running the meter around the walls and finally got a hit on the back wall of the room. Sam tugged the six foot entertainment center away from the wall while Dean and Bobby discussed ways to break out of the room if they couldn't find whatever it was. He grunted with the effort and looked at the wall curiously.

"Huh." Sam ran a finger over the line hidden behind the shelves and unpainted like the rest of the room. The wall was actually a different color back there. "Uh, guys? I think this is a high water line." It was just hidden beneath the level of the entertainment center. "I'm gonna guess this place flooded at some point."

"Crap." Bobby ran a hand under his hat and looked around the motel's exterior. "Y'now, we're in the Bottoms. Pretty sure most of this area flooded last year when that hurricane blew inland over the lake."

"Great." Dean groaned from his bed. "How about you go find out if someone died in our damn room."

"Yeah. No drowning while I'm gone." Bobby told them and headed off to the rental office at a quick jog.

Sam shivered fit to rattle his bones and backed away a step, bumping into the shelves. "Someone m-must have d-drowned in here." He shook his head and frowned when the tremors picked up speed and the cold seemed to seep into his soul. "S'like…would'a been f-freezing. M-maybe…S'too cold. Always c-cold."

"Sammy?" Dean didn't like that his brother seemed to be making no sense all of a sudden. "Shit." He threw himself off the bed and grabbed Sam, dragging him back. "Get out of the water. Out." Dean shoved him onto the bed and picked his brother's feet out of the water as Sam's eyes rolled back in his head and he started to seize. "No, no, no! Don't do this again, Sam. Come on!" Dean wrapped Sam's upper body in his arms before he could roll off the bed and climbed in next to him; holding on tightly as Sam's head thrummed on his shoulder, slapping and shaking until finally he went still.

"Ok. Ok, buddy. Come on, breathe." Dean scooted back, making sure Sam's dangling leg didn't go back in the frigid water and set him off a second time. He tugged the sides of his blanket out and wrapped it around his brother while he tried not to panic again. "S'just a little crack in the wall, dude. You can come back from this. No big deal." Dean muttered it in Sam's ear and hoped he could hear him and would follow his voice back because the alternative, Sam's wall crashing down and killing him, was unacceptable. "Sammy." Dean rubbed the knuckles of one hand into his brother's chest, hard enough to bruise and hopefully snap him out of it before too much Hell trickled back into his head. Part of him wished Bobby would come the hell back but he shook his head. Bobby couldn't do anything even if he could get in the room.

"Sam." Dean gave him a shake and moved slightly so he could roll Sam's head and see his face. "Come on, Sammy. Please." His calm was eroding with every second and just as the panic was ready to take hold him of him once more, Sam's eyes shot open and he sucked in the same wheezing, desperate breath Dean still heard in his nightmares from the last time. "Shit, Sammy. Ok, take it easy. Hey, hey!"

Sam shook once, hard and looked up at his brother. "Dean."

"Breathe, dude." Dean urged as Sam gasped for breath and held on to him when he tried to roll away. He saw Sam slam his eyes closed and his brow crease as the pain hit him. "Ok. You're ok."

Sam wanted to move away and tell Dean he was fine but his muscles weren't cooperating just yet. His head was screaming, he was freezing and worried if he did try to move, he'd end up puking in his brother's lap while fresh memories of hell swirled through his head like shards of glass, scratching everywhere they touched.

Dean rubbed a hand over Sam's blanket-covered arm, trying to warm him further even while freezing water dripped out of his shaggy hair. He looked up as a shadow crossed the window and sighed when Bobby reappeared.

"Dean? What happened?" Bobby peered into the room and the elder Winchester cradling his little brother, wrapped in both blankets against him. "I was only gone for five damn minutes."

"We're fine." Dean assured him though he didn't move. "What'd the manager say?"

Bobby stared at him and Sam breathing heavily with his eyes screwed shut and shook his head. "He said a guy did die in here. Got trapped in the room during the flood and died of hypothermia, not drownin'. The cold killed him before he could get out. He also mentioned that they only finished renovatin' this end of the motel two days ago. This is the first time the room's been rented since it happened."

"Great. So what the hell's keeping him here?" Dean looked around the room as if expecting an answer to materialize.

"I've got his name. I'll find out where he's buried." Bobby slapped a hand into the invisible barrier and looked worriedly at Sam. "Dean, what's goin' on?"

"He's fine." Dean said quickly. He met the older Hunter's eyes. "It's the wall, ok?"

"This what happened last time?" Bobby felt a stab of fear for Sam and was glad he'd missed the whole 'seizure' part of the show. He wasn't sure he could watch that and not lose his cool.

Dean nodded. "Yeah. He'll be up and walkin' again in a minute or two."

"Can walk now." Sam said hoarsely, finally getting a measure of control over the pain. "Bobby, can we…um…" He extricated a hand from the blankets and rubbed it over his face tiredly. "Cleansing ritual?" He didn't want to think what might happen if they had to stay in the water-logged room the hours it would take Bobby to find a grave and dig it up.

Bobby frowned, watching Sam's uncoordinated movements as Dean pushed him up and kept hold of him so he didn't fall off into the water again. "Uh, yeah. Probably. Try not to get wet for five minutes."

Dean rolled his eyes as Bobby vanished back to his own room and took a good, close look at his brother. "How you feelin'?"

"Cold, wet and my head kinda feels like it went three rounds in a cement mixer." Sam got his head up enough to smile wanly at him. "So, I'm good."

Dean snorted. He opened his mouth and then closed it when he realized he could hear water bubbling. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me."

"What?" Sam looked up as Dean leaved over the side of the bed.

Dean groaned. "The water's rising." He could see it inching millimeter by millimeter up the wall across from them. They had maybe five minutes until it covered the bed.

"He must be listening." Sam said softly. "He knows we're going to try and send him on."

"Bobby, HURRY UP!" Dean shouted. His real fear wasn't that they'd freeze to death or drown; Bobby would have them out long before that. He was terrified that being submerged in the cold water again would set off another crack in the wall in his brother's mind so soon on the heels of the last.

"It's ok, Dean." Sam sat up a little higher holding his head. "We're both taller than the high water mark."

Dean nodded. "I know just…stay out of it as long as you can."

"Bobby'll finish the ritual in time." Sam said surely. "Doesn't take more than a few…"

"Don't say it, dude." Dean cut him off and knelt up. "Don't jinx us. We are not havin' the best luck ever today." As if to prove his point, the water chose that moment to rise in earnest; not slowly but in a rush that took both men by surprise and had them swimming without warning. Dean kicked to the surface, trying to ignore the freezing cold that ate into him and broke the surface with his head inches from the ceiling. "Sammy?"

Sam coughed out a mouthful of water as he reached the surface. "Dean."

"Right here." Dean grabbed Sam's shoulder and shoved him toward the entertainment center so he'd have something to hold on to. "Ok, we're good. Just stay calm."

"I'm c-calm." Sam said while his teeth chattered and he propped himself on the shelves.

Dean swallowed the new wave of fear and swam to the wall they shared with Bobby. He banged on it and heard an answering knock. "Ok. Guess he's b…busy. Damn."

"Get…get back over here." Sam ordered his brother and snaked an arm out as Dean neared, pulling him into the shelf so he could use it as well. The cold was numbing his arms and legs painfully and his head had yet to stop pounding. He lowered it to his arm wearily.

"Sammy?" Dean asked in a voice heavy with concern.

"Just my head pounding, Dean. I'm fine." Sam reassured him. Inwardly, he was still struggling not to sink under the weight of fresh memories; blood and bone and screaming and over it all the wild face of an arch-angel gone mad. Sam jerked his head up and sucked in a breath.

"Yeah, you look f-fine." Dean didn't believe him for one moment. He clamped his jaw shut as his teeth started rattling out of his control and could see a slight blue tinge coming to his brother's eyes and lips from the cold. "Hold on, Sam."

"D-dibs on…f-first hot…hot shower." Sam said through chattering teeth and managed the ghost of a smirk to try and take the fearful look from his brother's face.

"Have to wr…wrestle me f-for it." Dean snorted. He curled stiff fingers into the back of his brother's shirt under the water when Sam began to sink a little too far for his liking.

"S'lousy way to g-go." Sam said softly, thinking of the man who had died in the room like this; so cold he could barely breathe, trapped and trying not to drown and knowing there was no help coming. Sam shook his head. They had each other and Bobby would have the spirit sent on in minutes.

"He n-needs to hurry the hell…" Dean broke off on a gasp as his legs were pulled again and he was dragged back under the water. He fought the hold, kicking and fought harder when he opened his eyes and saw Sam thrashing too. He looked down and snarled at the apparition of a young, very blue looking man holding both their legs in a vice grip as he lay on the floor of the room.

Sam's lungs burned and hypothermia was very close to making him suck in a breath whether he wanted to or not as it shook his body and the frigid water pressed in around him. He hooked a hand on the shelf and tried to pull up and get his head out of the water but the spirit's hold was firm.

Dean was losing the fight between the cold and the now desperate need to breathe. His body was shaking so hard he couldn't coordinate his movements enough to even kick at the spirit under him anymore. His eyes went wide with shock and then relief when the spirit suddenly burst apart in a ball of blinding light. Dean felt a concussion to the water around him and then his feet touched the floor as the water rushed out of the room through the open door in a roaring wave.

Sam hit the floor gasping and coughing weakly as the water ran out. He rolled his head enough to find his brother beside him and threw an arm over to flop into Dean's chest.

Dean nodded and got a hand around Sam's forearm to let him know he was alright while he wheezed air in and out gratefully.

Bobby skidded to a stop in the door of the room. "Balls!" He spent a moment taking in the sight of his boys gasping on the floor like landed fish and the disturbing blue-white color of both their faces and then he was moving. "Dean?"

"Sam." Dean gasped, shook his head and looked fiercely up to Bobby. "Get him w-warm. Fast."

Bobby sighed, knowing that look all too well and turned to the youngest Winchester. "Come on, Sam. You stand?" He frowned when all Sam did was curl up in a shivering ball and shake his head. "Wrong answer, kid." Bobby manhandled the larger man until he had him sitting, scowling at the feel of Sam's skin when he put his hand to his neck; he'd felt corpses with more warmth in them.

"M…m'ok." Sam managed after a moment.

"Argue with me when you can get a whole word out." Bobby rolled his eyes and pulled Sam to his feet with a groan of effort. He tugged Sam's arm over his shoulders, shivering when the cold water soaked into his shirt and looked down at Dean. "You good, son?"

Dean nodded and got to his knees. He waved a hand at them. "G-go. Get him warm f-fast."

"Get your ass to my room." Bobby ordered him with a smirk for the glare Dean gave him in response. "Come on, Sam." He guided Sam into a staggering walk, suffering for the poor kid as he tried to stay upright on wobbly legs.

Dean used the bed to get to his feet and then sat on the end with a grimace as it squished. The entire room was water-logged and he groaned, seeing their duffels on the dresser; leaking water in steady streams to the floor. "Awesome." He wrapped his arms around his chest and got back to his feet to stumble out and next door. He startled slightly when he turned into the open door and was immediately met with a face full of dry towel. "Whoa!"

"Shuddup." Bobby growled and rubbed it vigorously over Dean's head for a second before letting him take it for himself. "Sam's gettin' in the shower."

"You left him alone?" Dean asked incredulously and started for the bathroom only to be grabbed and pushed into a chair.

"He's cold, Dean; not crippled. He can start his own damn shower now relax." Bobby rolled his eyes affectionately.

Dean scowled up at him but relaxed slightly when he heard the shower turn on and a moment later, Sam's loud, happy groan. "Well, that sounded dirty." He snorted and pulled his shirt off, then groaned himself. "Son of a bitch! All our clothes are soaked!"

Bobby laughed as he grabbed his keys from the dresser. "Assumin' you boys can manage not to get frozen or drowned in the next hour, I'll go dry your clothes." He shook his head and went out the door. "It's like you're toddlers all over again only not as cute. Idjits."

Dean's jaw dropped open and then he grinned. "Hey! I'm adorable!"

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_The End._


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